Archive for the 'The Xx' Tag Under 'Soundcheck' Category

Because the Hollywood Bowl is nestled in our backyard, so to speak, it’s sometimes easy to forget the history and prestige associated with playing there. For opening acts, that often manifests into shyness or nerves. Younger headliners exhibit those qualities, too, though when they look out at the steep hillside incline and see 17,000-plus faces staring back, only the most stoic of performers can keep from being overcome with emotion, be it gratitude or pure joy.

But stoicism is the xx’s game. Considering that the English group rapidly sold out its Bowl debut Sunday night, the biggest question marks about its appearance were whether the terminally cool trio would show some cracks in their armor – and whether their minimal yet spacious electronic pop would captivate an audience for 90 minutes in such a large venue.

After all, the xx, though already a major festival attraction, isn’t necessarily known as an electrifying live act, just a respectable one whose appeal is proportionate to your investment in the material.

Opening the night, Toronto’s Austra showcased Katie Stelmanis’ opera training with a brief but effective set, and Chromatics followed by dazzling the respectfully skeptical crowd, always tough to impress at the Bowl. Finishing with covers of Kate Bush and Neil Young that were translated into after-party dance music didn’t hurt the latter outfit’s cause, and they are proving to be one of the more exciting emerging projects of the last few years.

Post-Coachella: It’s a well-established tradition that the morning after the festival ends, big shows from some of its top players get announced. Frankly, I’m surprised to not see certain ones so far – a full-blown West Coast Postal Service tour seems imminent.

UPDATE: And the next morning it was revealed: The Postal Service will play July 23-24 at the Greek Theatre, plus July 20 at Santa Barbara Bowl and July 21 at San Diego State's Open Air Theatre. All shows go on sale this weeekend. More details soon.

But there are at least two acts headed to the Hollywood Bowl, where Vampire Weekend appears Sept. 28 (that oughta be terrific) and the xx turns up Sept. 29 (that oughta be mesmerizing). Zach Condon’s group Beirut joins the former bill, while Oregonian electro outfit Chromatics should be a perfect complement to their English counterparts on the latter night.

Thomas Mars of Phoenix on the main stage Saturday night. Photo: David Hall, for the Register

What a turnaround, virtually an about-face after such an unspectacular opening day.

Usually this April oasis comes shimmering into view on Friday, reaches an energetic peak on Saturday, then crawls to a finish on Sunday, the audience too physically exhausted and mentally shredded to muster much enthusiasm until the headliners appear.

Not so this year, where excessively long lines and an afternoon of nothing special provided lackluster setup for a so-so night – all of which was easily trumped by a very strong (if still not fully great) Day 2 that at times seemed to unify this gathering of roughly 90,000 people.

Let's start with some caveats. Principally: How strong the live stream will be from both Coachella weekends (available on the official site) depends on your equipment as much as the technical competence of festival organizers. Their crews already battle the elements to bring the action home. Don't battle back by having a lousy Internet connection and a shoddy laptop.

Also keep in mind that not everything will air, perhaps including some of these choices. Several top-tier names are apt to deny access.

And don't expect much – or anything – out of the Sahara dance tent. Apparently little was shown from there last year, so we aren't recommending many EDM stars.

Coachella extras: We've been expecting the usual array of small-scale shows before, between and after the double-header festival in Indio. At last a slew of them have just been revealed via organizer Goldenvoice – more than two dozen dates, with intimate turns from Lou Reed, Vampire Weekend, Modest Mouse and La Roux topping the list.

Much to the delight of older fans who'd never dare brave the elements at Coachella, Reed has tacked on an April 17 performance at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Los Angeles, $45-$55. Also appearing there is Rodriguez, subject of the Oscar-winning documentary Searching for Sugar Man, April 16, $45-$65.

With any creative endeavor, it stands to reason that with age and experience comes increased wisdom and confidence. That was fully evident throughout Monday night's performance from British trio the xx at Hollywood's Fonda Theatre, the outfit's first L.A.-area stop in about two years.

When I last caught the group on a few dates in fall 2010, the show was convincing in the sense that, though these artists were just 20 years old and new to touring life, their musicianship was supremely tight, their overall live execution satisfyingly precise.

Yet that unfaltering sonic accuracy felt entwined with a prevailing timidity – perhaps first-tour jitters or the inevitable anxiety of bursting onto the U.S. music scene as a one-or-two-hit buzz band? Whatever the case back then, that nervous aura was wholly absent at Monday's gig. Nearly every song was imbued with as much self-assured swagger as unerring proficiency.

Demand to see the Black Keys live continues to soar. The duo of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney -- finally a Grammy-winning, chart-impacting force after seven studio albums and a decade of shows -- already have a string of October dates in Southern California as part of their first headlining arena tour.

And now they've added one more: Oct. 6, the group's second night at Staples Center, following Oct. 5. Tickets for the new gig, $39.50-$59.50, go on sale Friday, July 20, at 10 a.m. Just a reminder that the Black Keys also play Oct. 2 at Santa Barbara Bowl, Oct. 4 at Valley View Casino Center in San Diego and Oct. 8 at Honda Center in Anaheim. Opening act throughout the run: Tegan and Sara.

This just in: The date of Nicki Minaj's Nokia Theatre show has just been moved, from Aug. 5 to Aug. 8, due to "an unavoidable scheduling conflict." The location stays the same. All tickets for the earlier date will be honored. If necessary, refunds are available at point of purchase.

Missing out on the xx's show next week at the Fonda? Be patient. The English duo, whose eagerly awaited second album Coexist drops Sept. 10, is coming back before very long, and at a much more atmospheric location: Oct. 13 at Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Tickets, $38.50 and limited to two per person and per household, go on sale Friday at noon via Ticketfly. (Also look for the group Oct. 12 at the Hollywood Palladium, also $38.50, on sale Friday at 10 a.m.)

So this will be it, right? Two nights at the Observatory after three nights at House of Blues Anaheim, with a Club Nokia gig in between?

That would appear to be the touring finale for Thrice before the long-running Orange County band goes on indefinite hiatus. Previously announced dates for the entire run -- June 14-15 and 17 at the Mouse House, June 16 at the L.A. Live venue, June 18 at the renovated spot in Santa Ana -- all sold out weeks ago.

What would appear to be the final night, June 19 at the Observatory, is on sale now, $27. As at all other dates, Animals as Leaders and O'Brother will open.

September 20th, 2011, 1:45 am by BEN WENER, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Grayson Currin, writing for Pitchfork in February: “Composed of tender torch songs, elegiac drifters, and soulful melodies, Blake's first puts him in the rare company of fellow singers -- Thom Yorke, Karin Dreijer, Antony Hegarty, Justin Vernon, Dan Bejar -- who've recently bent their own lavish voices, not samples, to make interesting pop music shaped with electronics. These songs are bigger than the defense of any microgenre, and, chances are, they'll soon make Blake a star. He deserves it.”

The microgenre in question is dubstep, another impossible-to-define electronic-music variant, heavy on glitchy clicks and pops, jittery tempos and plenty of deeeeep basssssss. It first emerged a decade ago, initially morphing out of harder/faster 2-step and grime movements yet owing as much to polar-opposite twin towers of rhythm that rose out of the U.K. a bit before that. At the seductive, menacing and meditative end of '90s electronica: beyond-blunted grooves from Bristol, home to Massive Attack, Portishead and Tricky. From the other extreme: heart-racing, mind-boggling blasts of drum and bass.

On either side of the Atlantic, however, then or now, no one outside of dance-music aficionados and Urb readers could likely name you anyone associated with dubstep, much less explain what said music is supposed to sound like. The reason lots of people who gleefully don't know squat about electro can nonetheless tell you something about James Blake, on the other hand, is proof of two things: 1) Currin's prediction is coming true; and 2) Blake has rapidly transcended dubstep, or any genre for that matter.

He's currently having it both ways: he carries the cachet of dubstep cool yet appeals to borderline-pop people who couldn't care less about that. The soon-to-be 23-year-old Londoner succeeds where others remain only intriguing because at heart Blake is a blue-eyed soul singer, one with an arresting (if also familiar) voice.

It's a natural that he recently collaborated with Justin Vernon, aka Bon Iver, an artist of a similar less-is-more aesthetic. Their new track “Fall Creek Boys Choir” comes from another in an impressive string of EPs – this one, Blake's seventh, is called Enough Thunder, due Oct. 10 – that have been prolifically pouring out of this upstart the past two years. That's in addition, by the way, to a full-length self-titled debut comprised of completely different material, including a magnetic remodeling of Feist's “Limit to Your Love.” (God bless PJ Harvey, but James Blake deserved the Mercury Music Prize this year more than Let England Shake.)

November 4th, 2010, 3:37 pm by GEORGE A. PAUL, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

Paul Weller is definitely a rare breed among musicians who started their careers in the '70s. Few of his contemporaries from British punk rock's first wave (apart from ex-Clash man Mick Jones) still have the restless energy and creative drive necessary to make an adventurous studio album like Wake Up the Nation, which arrived on Yep Roc Records in April.

Guest musicians include drummer Bev Bevan (once of ELO), guitarist Kevin Shields (prime mover behind My Bloody Valentine) and Weller's former bandmate in the Jam, bassist Bruce Foxton, marking the pair's first recording together in more than 25 years. Earlier this year, Nation was nominated for the U.K.'s esteemed Mercury Music Prize, though it lost out to the xx's self-titled debut. But Weller also snagged an Ivor Novello, England's top songwriting award, honoring his lifetime achievement.

An invigorating Wiltern Theatre gig Wednesday night, part of a quick mini-tour with just one Los Angeles date and two in New York City, found Weller, 52, still in peak vocal and musical form. The venue was nearly full, a testament to his continued cult following here; back home in the U.K., arenas are the norm.

A few years back, the Modfather (as Weller is affectionately called) jettisoned his longtime touring band, culled from Ocean Colour Scene, but retained masterful lead guitarist Steve Craddock. This group -- keyboardist Andy Crofts, bassist Andy Lewis and drummer Steve Pilgrim -- were tight throughout the night. Each of them pitched in on background vocals, which made a big difference amid more soulful numbers like “Have You Made Up Your Mind” and a sweeping, Phil Spector-esque “No Tears to Cry.”